Cognitive Functions and Stereopsis in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Using 3-Dimensional Television: A Case Controlled Trial

Stereopsis or depth perception is an awareness of the distances of objects from the observer, and binocular disparity is a necessary component of recognizing objects through stereopsis. In the past studies, patients with neurodegenerative disease (Alzheimer dementia, AD; Parkinson’s disease IPD) have problems of stereopsis but they did not have actual stimulation of stereopsis. Therefore in this study, we used a 3-dimensional (3D) movie on 3D television (TV) for actual stereopsis stimulation. We propose research through analyzing differences between the three groups (AD, IPD, and Controls), and identified relations between the results from the Titmus Stereo Fly Test, and the 3D TV test. The study also looked into factors that affect the 3D TV test. Before allowing the patients to watch TV, we examined Titmus stereo Fly Test and cognitive test. We used the 3D version of a movie, of 17 minutes 1 second duration, and carried out a questionnaire about stereopsis. The scores of the stereopsis questionnaire were decreased in AD patients, compared with in IPD and controls, although they did not have any difference of Titmus Stereo Fly Test scores. In IPD patients, cognitive function (Montreal cognitive assessment, MoCA) scores were correlated with the scores of the stereopsis questionnaire. We could conclude that Titmus fly test could not distinguish between the three groups and cognitive dysfunction contributes to actual stereopsis perception in IPD patients. Therefore the 3D TV test of AD and IPD patients was more effective than Titmus fly test.     

Structural Brain Changes after Traditional and Robot-Assisted Multi-Domain Cognitive Training in Community-Dwelling Healthy Elderly

The purpose of this study was to investigate if multi-domain cognitive training, especially robot-assisted training, alters cortical thickness in the brains of elderly participants. A controlled trial was conducted with 85 volunteers without cognitive impairment who were 60 years old or older. Participants were first randomized into two groups. One group consisted of 48 participants who would receive cognitive training and 37 who would not receive training. The cognitive training group was randomly divided into two groups, 24 who received traditional cognitive training and 24 who received robot-assisted cognitive training. The training for both groups consisted of daily 90-min-session, five days a week for a total of 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the changes in cortical thickness. When compared to the control group, both groups who underwent cognitive training demonstrated attenuation of age related cortical thinning in the frontotemporal association cortices. When the robot and the traditional interventions were directly compared, the robot group showed less cortical thinning in the anterior cingulate cortices. Our results suggest that cognitive training can mitigate age-associated structural brain changes in the elderly.

Trial Registration

ClnicalTrials.gov NCT01596205     

Structure-function study of gemini derivatives with two different side chains at C-20, Gemini-0072 and Gemini-0097

Derivatives of vitamin D(3) containing a second side-chain emanating at C-20 are known as gemini and act as vitamin D receptor agonists. Recently, two of these, namely Gemini-0072 and the epimeric Gemini-0097, were selected for further studies in view of their high biological activities and lack of hypercalcemic effects. We now show that the two analogs recruit coactivator SRC-1 better than the parental gemini and act as VDR superagonists. The crystal structures of complexes of zVDR with Gemini-0072 and Gemini-0097 indicate that these ligands induce an extra cavity within the ligand-binding pocket similar to gemini and that their superagonistic activity is due to an increased stabilization of helix H12.     

Synthesis and anti-inflammatory evaluation of N-sulfonyl anthranilic acids via Ir(III)-catalyzed C–H amidation of benzoic acids

The iridium(III)-catalyzed ortho-C–H amidation of benzoic acids with sulfonyl azides is described. These transformations allow the facile generation of N-sulfonyl anthranilic acids, which are known as crucial scaffolds found in biologically active molecules. In addition, all synthetic products were evaluated for in vitro anti-inflammatory activity against interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells. Notably, compounds 4c and 4d, generated from p-OMe- and p-Br-sulfonyl azides, were found to display potent anti-inflammatory property stronger than that of well-known NSAIDs ibuprofen.     

In Vitro Characterization of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lactobacillus plantarum</Emphasis> Strains with Inhibitory Activity on Enteropathogens for Use as Potential Animal Probiotics

The present study evaluates the probiotic properties of three Lactobacillus plantarum strains MJM60319, MJM60298, and MJM60399 possessing antimicrobial activity against animal enteric pathogens. The three strains did not show bioamine production, mucinolytic and hemolytic activity and were susceptible to common antibiotics. The L. plantarum strains survived well in the simulated orogastrointestinal transit condition and showed adherence to Caco-2 cells in vitro. The L. plantarum strains showed strong antimicrobial activity against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium, Choleraesuis and Gallinarum compared to the commercial probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG. The mechanism of antimicrobial activity of the L. plantarum strains appeared to be by the production of lactic acid. Furthermore, the L. plantarum strains tolerated freeze-drying and maintained higher viability in the presence of cryoprotectants than without cryoprotectants. Finally, the three L. plantarum strains tolerated NaCl up to 8% and maintained >60% growth. These characteristics of the three L. plantarum strains indicate that they could be applied as animal probiotic after appropriate in vivo studies.     

Plasma surfactant protein-D as a diagnostic biomarker for acute respiratory distress syndrome: validation in US and Korean cohorts

Background

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is potentially underrecognized by clinicians. Early recognition and subsequent optimal treatment of patients with ARDS may be facilitated by usage of biomarkers. Surfactant protein D (SP-D), a marker of alveolar epithelial injury, has been proposed as a potentially useful biomarker for diagnosis of ARDS in a few studies. We tried to validate the performance of plasma SP-D levels for diagnosis of ARDS.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective analysis using data from three (two in USA and one in Korea) prospective biobank cohorts involving 407 critically ill patients admitted to medical intensive care unit (ICU). A propensity score matched analysis (patients with versus without ARDS, matched 1:1) was carried out using significant variables from multiple logistic regression. The diagnostic accuracy of plasma SP-D as a diagnostic marker of ARDS was assessed by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.

Results

Out of the 407 subjects included in this study, 39 (10%) patients fulfilled ARDS criteria. Patients with ARDS had higher SP-D levels in plasma (p?<?0.01) and higher hospital-mortality (p?<?0.001) than those without ARDS. Thirty eight subjects with ARDS (cases) were successfully matched for propensity for ARDS with 38 subjects without ARDS (controls). Plasma levels of SP-D were higher in cases with ARDS compared to their matched controls without ARDS [median 20.8 ng/mL (interquartile range, 12.7–38.4) versus 7.9 (4.1–17.0); p?=?0.001]. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for SP-D for the diagnosis of ARDS was 0.71 (95% confidence intervals, 0.60–0.83). A cut-off point of 12.7 ng/mL for SP-D yielded sensitivity of 74% and specificity of 63%.

Conclusions

High levels of SP-D within 48 h after ICU admission might serve as a diagnostic marker for ARDS in patients hospitalized in medical ICU. Further prospective trials are required to validate the diagnostic role of SP-D in ARDS, and if its usefulness is greater in direct than in indirect ARDS, as well as across different strata of severity of ARDS.

     

Nanomechanical In Situ Monitoring of Proteolysis of Peptide by Cathepsin B

Characterization and control of proteolysis of peptides by specific cellular protease is a priori requisite for effective drug discovery. Here, we report the nanomechanical, in situ monitoring of proteolysis of peptide chain attributed to protease (Cathepsin B) by using a resonant nanomechanical microcantilever immersed in a liquid. Specifically, the detection is based on measurement of resonant frequency shift arising from proteolysis of peptides (leading to decrease of cantilever''s overall mass, and consequently, increases in the resonance). It is shown that resonant microcantilever enables the quantification of proteolysis efficacy with respect to protease concentration. Remarkably, the nanomechanical, in situ monitoring of proteolysis allows us to gain insight into the kinetics of proteolysis of peptides, which is well depicted by Langmuir kinetic model. This implies that nanomechanical biosensor enables the characterization of specific cellular protease such as its kinetics.